Why Is the Ability to Exploit Economies of Scale so Important in Mature Industries?

Mature Industries
Mature industries can range from insurance to food distribution and although they're heterogeneric they can present several similarities from a strategic perspective. Mature industries occur when there is increasing market saturation and slowing growth with new demand being substituted by replacement demand as mature industries operate on a mass market level with their customers repeat buying.
Although mature industries may not be as glamorous and receive as much press coverage as their technology based counterparts, companies such as Coca Cola and Gillette have achieved higher profitability and growth than many technology based companies ever could. With other companies such as Nike footwear and MBNA banking having established strong positions in their industries through innovative strategies and have proven that maturity does not always mean little opportunity.
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